The NUM said it is already facilitating talks with the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) aimed at reducing the number of workers affected and to ensure fair retrenchments where they can’t be avoided.

The union’s spokesperson David Sipunzi said thousands more workers maybe left jobless by the end of the year.

“Those figures were before Anglo American announced that they’re going to sell some of their assets within the country. Now that sale obviously will come with job losses as well because the new owners will want to reduce their employees,” he said.

The mining industry in Africa’s second largest economy is under pressure from sinking metal prices and soaring costs which has triggered a wave of job cuts across the sector.